PS3 Reviews

PS2 Review: Rogue Galaxy

By Casey Lynch Jan 30, 2007, 20:45 GMT

Does Rogue Galaxy prove there’s still life in your PS2? Read on!

The makers of Dark Chronicle and Dragon Quest VIII have out done themselves with Rogue Galaxy, a SCI Fi role playing game, and using a last-gen piece of hardware called the PS2 (heard of it?) no less.

Rogue Galaxy is a straight forward boy-meets-world (or in this case boy-meets-space) action RPG, but it totally works and honestly, it totally rules.

The Scoop

Stylistically, it’s one of the best looking games we’ve played on the PS2, it has engaging and at-times frantic action, especially for an adventure RPG, and it has virtually no load times to boot.

There is a huge universe, err, sorry, galaxy, to explore here.

Rogue Galaxy is a Lucasian hero story that follows Jaster Rogue, a nobody on a nowhere planet that accidentally finds himself on the crew of the Dorgenark, a space pirate ship.

There he meets a host of characters – the C3P0 and R2-D2-esque pair Steve and Simon, and a warrior and tribeswoman. The characters are a bit shallow, but not in an annoying way.

On to what works and what doesn't...

What works

The looks of the game is like very anime, except there are no obnoxiously androgynous men with emo hair, which is a VERY good thing (sorry Cloud.) The cut scenes are rendered witht eh games 3D engine, which makes the story feel seemless as well.

At times the game really looks more like a anime movie, which is a really good thing, especially considering this is a PS2 title.

The game has a serious sense of humor, which comes out through the dialogue, which is helped by the above-average voice acting. The sound is good too, including a very memorable score.

The main quest takes a few hours to get into but it’s a fun trip along the way and the story really gets going at just the right times.

The typical slow, menu-based style of RPG combat has bee retooled (thankfully!) – instead, there is quick shooting and hack and slash action, which we really enjoyed. Now, don’t get us wrong – you have to go into your item menu to pick preferred attacks against certain enemy types and to revive your partners, but for the most part, you’re in control real-time.

Jaster learned all his moves from Neo.

The RPG elements really come into to play with your weapons – they upgrade as you level up and you can actually combine them, and the 3D engine renders your combinations to see as you fight, so as you level up, your weapons get pretty cool. There’s also mini-games like bug tournaments and an assembly line that lets you put together a very deep assortment of goodies to aid you in your quests.

The difficulty level can get challenging, especially with the boss fights. You play in a party of three characters and primarily control Jaster, and it can get hard when your comrades start dying off next to you. But the save system is fairly forgiving and its nice to have the challenge.

What doesn’t work

At times, the combat can get monotonous or fell a bit triggered – you’ll make your way through what seems like endless twisting maze-like environments, triggering scores of enemies to pop out and fight you. But hey, its an action fighting game, that’s what they’re supposed to do. The bevy of side-quests and mini-games help to take the edge off the monotony.

What it all means

If you’re looking to squeeze a little more action out of your PS2 before you send it to a retirement home in Florida, Rogue Galaxy is definitely a game you will have fun doing so with.

It has great RPG elements, fun combat, it looks fantastic and has an enjoyable story, voice-acting and music.

Pros

- Great look
- Combat is fun
- good story, voice-acting and music

Cons

- Combat and quests can feel a little repetitive